Good Decisions and Runaways
by Greaser4Lifex3
Summary: My own story sorta based on the outsiders, i read it and got this idea. Maverick makes a good decision to help someone in need but what happens when that good desicion costs a life and maybe a best friend.
1. Chapter 1

I walked down the street with a cigarette in my mouth. Just then a car of preps pulled into the drive next to me. I looked at them and took a drag on my cig then bummed it out on the side walk.

"Hey grease ball. Need a haircut. C'mon boys, let's give the grease bag a hair cut." Said Tony Montoya, the leader of the preps.

He and about three other guys hopped out of a Corvette with the top down. I sped up, started to run. Someone grabbed the back of my brown leather jacket and yanked me down. Tony straddled me and brought a haymaker down on my face.

Rodney, Tony's co-leader, pulled out a blade and held it to my head. I felt it cut into my forehead and I yelped a bit. I fought it off for a good while till one of the guys put the toe of his fancy Italian leathers to my head and I was knocked out. I woke up to being slowly bounced up and down. I was getting a piggy-back-ride from my older brother, Jaggar. Gunnar, the oldest and strongest brother, was carryin' a baseball bat. There wasn't any blood on it so I figured he didn't use it. I actually wouldn't have expected him to. He's more of a bloody knuckles guy.

I wiggled out of Jaggar's grip on my legs and hopped down. I walked in front of them trying to look tough as possible.

"Yo, Maverick. You alright?" Jaggar asked me, "I was gonna carry you all the way if ya wanted me to."

"Yea, I know. But I'm fine, really." I said, even though I wasn't. I was on the verge of tears. Everything hurt and I just wanted to go home.

"Wait, Mav," Gunnar wiped the blood off my forehead, "they pull a blade on you?"

"Yea." I said quietly.

I heard Gunnar exhale loudly and I knew what was coming next, the blowup.

"Damnit, Maverick! Don't you ever use your head? You shouldn't be walking alone, its getting late. At least take a blade or something with you. I oughta crack you one, boy!…"

I blocked Gunnar out. He continued on with insults and names and everything under the sun. Gunnar hated me, I knew it. He always had liked Jaggar better. Everything he said to me was pretty much an insult. He always joked and kidded around with Jaggar, but not me. When I tried to mess around with him he told me to just smart up and grow up. That was his motto, for me at least, _smart up or grow up. _

I got home and crashed on my bed. I took a nice, long, hot shower. My face hit the pillow at a record time of nine P.M. I was never in bed this early, I'd usually hang out on the streets with one of my best friends in our gang, Mick Taylor. He was quiet and reserved just like me. I guess that's how we got along. We don't like fighting, but'll do it if we have to.

Jaggar jumped on my bed and wrestled me to the floor the next morning.

"Gang's goin' gown to Dino's for some lunch. Care to join us, Mavie boy?"

I grunted trying to get up and get myself moving, "Mhm, yea, sure. Gimme a sec."

I threw on some dark jeans, a tight white T-shirt, and my brown jacket. I smeared my hair with some grease. Then I ran out to lot outside our house to meet the crew. We're such a random bunch of guys.

Ace Dodgely, the craziest guy of the bunch, was always wearing a blue jeans jacket and a Ratt T-shirt with the sleeves cut off. His hair was black and wiry, but he kept it down with grease. He always joked around and messed with us. He kept us up when we were feelin' down. He was about sixteen or seventeen.

Then there was Jon-Jon McLane, the roughest, toughest guy in the bunch. Don't mess around with him or you'll get the tar beat outta ya. He had a sensitive side, or so I've heard. I, nor any of the other guys, haven't seen it, I don't think. He had killed people, been to jail, robbed stores, and jumped people. He was okay to me. But I didn't expect him to be really nice. He was about twenty, the oldest behind Gunnar.

Then Mick Taylor, my best friend. He was fifteen, a year older than me. He was quiet, reserved. His parents really hated him and we gave him all the love in the world so he could be like one of us and feel loved. He was lucky, my parents left us one day without any warning, haven't seen or heard from 'em since.


	2. Chapter 2

We all walked down to Dino's diner on the corner of our street. I got a Coke and a burger. Ace, Gunnar, and Jaggar had an eat off. They each downed about a pound of fries and four burgers. Jon-Jon sat alone at a booth two down from Mick and I, and it was far away from the noise and racket of the three guys shoving there faces.

Mick announced that he had to get home to clean the house. Every Friday he had to come home for like an hour or so. This was the only time his parents actually wanted Mickey home.

So I was left sippin' my Coke alone. Jon-Jon sat facing the wall, so all you could see was his back. I half attempted to go over there, but I figured he'd want his privacy. I just put my head down and stared at the black and white checkered table.

From Jon-Jon's table I heard him call, "Hey, Mavie, come ova here."

I looked up at him and grabbed my Coke. I sat across from him and just stared, "Yea, Jon?"

"You looked a little lonely down there, though ya might like some company." He said, taking a big bite out of his burger.

"Oh, uh, thanks." I said. It was weird, not like him to notice something like that.

"You fightin' any now a days?"

I snorted, "Yea, I guess."

He smiled a smile I hadn't seen on him in a while, "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya."

We both sat there and laughed and talked about things from heaters (guns) to the girls he liked back in high school. We left with the rest of the guys and the sun was setting. Jon-Jon, Mick, and I went to catch a show at the drive in theater later that night. It was twenty-five cents to get in without a car, but we hopped a fence anyways. Jon-Jon had a couple bottles of beer in his jacket. I cant believe I didn't see him sneak it in. Well he got drunker than ever by jackin' bottles from high school guys that were there. Before I knew it we had to break up a fight between him and a boozed-up prep.

He came over and swung a fist at Mick. Mick flinched like crazy, but Jon-Jon missed. Then he connected and it was bad. Caught Mickey right on the side of the face. He started crying a little bit and I jumped up faster than a speeding bullet and got right in Jon-Jon's face.

"What the heck, man! You don't hit Mick, you don't ever hit Mick!" I knew it was a bad idea to get in front of Jon like that, especially since he was drunk. I got smacked back into reality when I got a mouthful of Jon-Jon's fist. I could feel my lips bleeding. I stood up again, God, am I stupid ?

"Knock it off, Jon-Jon. Go hit someone your own size. Get outta here, man, or I'll get my brothers on you!" I screamed and pointed in his face.

All he did was laugh and he said something I couldn't understand. I was punched in the ribs, the face, the head, and in the gut. I was knocked out and I heard Jon-Jon say something like, "Now Imma get ya, Mickey!"

I knew I shoulda done something, but I just couldn't get up to my feet. I heard Mickey yelp and cry and I felt tears run down my face. I couldn't let him die from Jon-Jon's dumb acts. I pushed myself to stand up. I looked around and couldn't find anyone. Well, no one I was lookin' for anyways. Till I saw in the distance, Jon-Jon chasin' down Mick on the road out of the drive-in. It hurt to walk let alone run, but I pushed on and finally caught up to them. I wasn't running track for nothing.

I tackled Jon-Jon and told Mick to get my brothers because I knew I'd die once Jon-Jon got a hold of me. Damn, knocked out again. I couldn't stand a chance to a drunk Jon. I lay there bleeding from every part of my face. I felt strong arms lift me up off the dirt floor after laying there for what seemed like a hour. I looked up and saw Ace carrying me.

"Your brothers are takin' care of Jon-Jon. He's pretty okay now, still pretty wasted. I bet he wants to see you. He feels really bad about everything."

I didn't care about that, I wanted to know about Mick, "where is he?"

"Who, Mavie?"

"Mick."

His face turned white and scared, "he was here…with you ?"

I started to freak out too, "what do you mean? Ace, what do you mean!?"

"Well, Jon-Jon said he beat a kid up really bad, but couldn't remember who it was. He left him in the woods up the road," We bolted into the woods callin' Mickey's name. We finally found him, lyin' face down in the dirt. Tears streaming down his face like crazy. We took him in our arms and carried him back to our house, nearly dropping him to see Jon-Jon standing up in my kitchen.

Mick wiggled himself free and took off towards his house.

Jon-Jon looked down and snorted, "I guess anyplace is better then bein' in a place with me."

Gunnar put a hand on his shoulder, "we know ya didn't mean it."


	3. Chapter 3

I'm surprised that Gunnar's OK with this whole incident. I was actually angry by him not caring. But I kept my mouth shut and walked out the door. I sat on the porch with my head in my hands. I felt someone put a hard hand on my shoulder. It was unsteady and shook. I looked up to see it was Jon-Jon. I held his arm so he wouldn't fall over.

"Hey…I...I…uh…hey," was all he could manage between slurred words.

All I did was look up at him. I glared at him hard, trying to figure out what was on his mind. I got nothing. No expression whatsoever.

"Look, Maverick. You know I didn't mean a damn thing I did to y'all at the theater. Huh, you know that right? Do ya?"

"Damn straight, but I don't think Mick did."

"Aw shoot, man? What do ya mean? Don't tell me that was him I chased into the woods?" Jon-Jon said, standing up. He began to sweat and pace back and forth on the porch.

"Yea." I said, I know he didn't mean it all. But I was still pretty ticked about the whole situation.

"Shoot, Mavie! We gotta go find 'im," he jumped off the porch, "well, c'mon, Mav!"

"What do ya mean 'we'? I sure as shootin' didn't do nothing to 'im. What you want me to go for?"

"Maverick, I can barely stand. Think I'll be able to chase down some scrawny kid runnin' for his life?"

I felt bad for him. He wanted to go apologize and I was standing in the way, "yea, sure. I'll go."

"Great! Well, c'mon, Mavie!" he took off running and I chased him down.

We ran together neck-and-neck, hollerin' for Mick. It was about ten at night and it sure was dark. I wanted to give up. I knew Mickey was somewhere safe. Jon-Jon surely didn't want to give up, though. He kept pushing me on. I stopped and put my hands on my knees; I was breathing hard and my ribs hurt.

I looked up at Jon-Jon who was sober enough now, "c'mon, Maverick, please. We can't give up on ol' Mickey now. I feel just God awful terrible about this whole mess. He's gotta know how much I'm sorry."

I couldn't breath and neither could Jon-Jon, but he doesn't smoke like me and my lungs were on fire. I lay on the ground grabbing onto my chest. Jon-Jon sat down next to me and cried. I never heard Jon-Jon cry in my life. I can honestly say I didn't like it too much. Just then, like almost perfect timing, came out Mick from the bushes. He wiped his face with his jeans jacket sleeve. Which told me he was crying, too.

Next thing I knew, Jon-Jon and Mick were wrapped up in a big hug. Jon-Jon was telling Mick something that I couldn't hear. Maybe it was too personal for me to hear. I don't know, but I didn't want to interrupt. I got up and started to walk down the street as Jon-Jon and Mick stood up too.

I walked faster than everyone else and I kinda felt left out. It's not like I wanted them to feel bad for me being left out, I just…I don't know what I wanted. I just didn't feel to good about the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, I was happy that Mick and Jon-Jon got made up and everything.

I walked into my house and pushed open the screen door quietly. Jaggar was asleep sprawled out on the couch. But Gunnar shot up from his spot at the rocking chair to meet me at the door. I was blindsided by a sharp slap to the face.

"Next time you planning on stayin' out this late you oughta tell me. Damnit, Mav. Why don't you just ever listen."

"Knock it off, Gunnar! I was with Jon the whole time, we were looking for Mick! And don't say ya didn't know that! Next time you hit me again I oughta slap you silly, Gunnar!"

Oh boy, oh boy. Not the smartest thing to say, I swear I'm the dumbest kid alive. Gunnar pushed me across the room; I flew into the screen door and busted open my head a little. I touched it and saw blood. I looked up at Gunnar, his face was as pale as ever.

"Aw gosh, Maverick, I didn't mean to hurt you like that. I'm awfully sorry."

I just looked at him and gunned it for the door. I jumped off the porch and I could here Gunnar yellin' for me to come on back. I ran up to Jon-Jon's house. I stood at the door, waiting to knock on it. I just couldn't muscle up the courage to hit my fist off of that wood. I just took a seat on his porch. I fell asleep before I got the chance to go inside. I woke up soaked, it was pouring

down rain.

Jon-Jon opened up his door, "man, Maverick. Whatcha doin' out here, kid? Whatever, just get on in here."

I walked into his house shivering and chattering my teeth. Jon-Jon gave me a hoodie of his. He also gave me an old pair of jeans. They were a little big, but I could manage. I was warm, but I was starving. I didn't want to say anything, and I didn't have to, my stomach growled loudly.

"Hungry, Mavie?"

"Uh yea, if it ain't a trouble to you."

"Aw shoot, its alright. I owe you more than I could ever repay you."

"What do ya mean?"

"How you stuck with me when we were looking for Mick. I figured you'd hate me forever and a day with the dumb thing I did at the movies. But no, you kept on when I figured you were too tired to quit."

"I was tired, and I did want to quit, that's the thing. I wanted to stop, but you pulled me through. You don't owe me nothin, it was all you."

"Still…" he got me a peanut butter sandwich and some milk. I finished it all pretty quickly.

"I oughta apologize for fallin' asleep on your doorstep like that."

"Forget about it, anytime. Hey, by the way, why did ya come to my house. What I mean is why weren't you at yours?"

"Gunnar hit me." I said, I scratched at the wound on my head and showed him the blood on my hand.

"Shoot, Mav, sorry."

"Yea, I ran away because he wants me too. He hates me, he wants me to run away and never come back like Mom and Dad.

Jon-Jon snapped like I knew he would, "naw, now you don't go sayin' things that you know for sure ain't true. Now, Gunnar loves you. Sometimes you can be a reckless fool, you don't use your head. Surprised he hadn't hit you before now."

"Yea, well, I don't know."

"Go on, get. Sure the boys back home are worried 'bout ya."


	4. Chapter 4

I said 'thanks' and walked out the door. I decided to take a short-cut through the alley. When I came out the other side, Tony Montoya was on his back surrounded by a bunch of his guys beatin' up on him. I smashed a bottle and held it by the neck, and I ran up and stabbed one of 'em. Not enough to kill 'im, but he bled pretty good.

"Hey kid! If you were wise I'd scram outta here. Or we'll kill ya next Friday along with Tony ova here!"

I jabbed him again and they took off screaming that I "was gonna get it."

"Maverick, thanks. But we gotta bust outta here. Friday when Luke Gibson gets outta jail, they'll come kill me. And now you!"

"Why? What did you do?"

"I ratted out on Luke for stealin' from a store and he gets out in five days. We oughta run away, get outta here for a while. Maybe they'll forget it."

"Uhm ok. I know someone we could go to."

We ran as fast as we could to Richard Foxx's house. Foxx has his own crew of greasers, and he's good friends with Jon-Jon. I figure he'll help out.

"Richie, the preps are gonna kill us. Tony ratted out on Luke and I cut some kid tryin' to kill him. Now when Luke gets out they're going to kill us!

"Now, now. Calm down. I know a place I can take you. Just hold on, I gotta heater for you," he handed me the gun, "stay up there for six or more days. I'll come up when it calms down and tell you what's going down. Don't worry, I got your back."

He drove us up to this old abandon barn with a hay loft and everything.

"Stay here, go into town in the morning and get some food for a week. Fresh crick's in the back so youze don't have to worry 'bout no water.

He left, Tony and I talked.

"So tell me what all went down. I want the whole story."

"Alright, well the day Luke robbed that store the cops came and asked us questions. The cop knew my dad and said if I didn't tell the truth he'd throw me in jail for some unlawful reason. I told him that I just knew that he was planning on going down and hittin' it up. I said I didn't know nothin' 'bout if he did it or not. They took my word for it and now here I am."

I sighed and leaned my head against the wall, "this is gonna be a long six days."

"Yea, at the least."

I groaned and climbed up to hay loft and lay down on the soft hay. I was freezing, had no blanket, all I had was the clothes that Jon-Jon gave me. Shoot, Jon-Jon. He didn't know I was here. I figured that when Richie would come back I'd tell him to tell my gang where I am, so they don't get worried. I bet he'd tell Jon-Jon though. Seeing as though he knows Jon-Jon rolls with me and my brothers.

I couldn't sleep at all that night. I looked over at Tony and he was tossing and turning and yelling out in his sleep. It didn't make me feel all to well. It hurt to see him freakin' out like that. I wanted to wake him up and tell him everything would be okay. I would, but I didn't know him all that well. He wasn't someone I could be comfortable with.

I had stared at him having some kind of nightmare for what seemed like an hour. I woke him up by throwing a ball of hay at his face. He snapped up and screamed. Sweat was soakin' his clothes, and I just sat there staring all scared like.

"You…you were havin' a nightmare. Thought I oughta get ya outta there."

"Thanks, Mavie. Ya know, I can't really sleep well. Somethin's buggin' me."

"Yea, like what?"

"Why, why did chose to save me instead of goin' on your way home. I'm a prep, you guys should hate me."

"Well, I'm not too sure. It was instinct I guess. I just saw you on the ground there and I just figured I'd want anyone to save me. I wouldn't care who it was."

"Yea, I don't think I got to thank ya did I?"

"Not too sure, but that's alright no need for it."

"No, I'm grateful, they woulda killed me right then and there if you didn't come up with that bottle."

I just nodded my head, and leaned it against the wall. I dosed off no later than thirty minutes of starin' at the walls around me. In the morning I woke up and couldn't find Tony, maybe he ran off. I walked outside slowly. Then I tripped over a little stump barely poking out of the ground. I heard someone laugh, I looked up and it was Tony.

"Well, look at what the cat dragged in." Tony said laughing.

I stared at the box he had in his hands, "What did ya get, what did ya get, what did ya get!?"

"Sheesh, calm down. You're worse than my five year-old cousin," he said as he put the box down on the round thing we used as a table.

He began pulling stuff out, "We got ham, bread, milk, cheese, some candy bars, a pack of smokes, and Coke."

I was happy about the ham, I loved ham and could eat it everyday. Which was what we would have to do. I pulled open the packaging of ham and I took three slices and Tony took one.

"I hate ham, shoulda got turkey."

"Well why didn't ya?" I asked with a mouthful.

"It was cheaper."

"Oh." I said and I nodded. I was smiling inside. But I knew I'd get tired of ham in four days.

"I wonder what smoked ham tasted like?" I laughed and held my lighter to the meat. I smelled it burning and watched it turn black. I took a bite.

"How's it taste?" Tony said laughing.

I made a funny face, "like shit!" I threw the piece of blackened ham at a few birds up on the hill outside of the barn door. One bird pecked at it then left it be as it flew away. I chuckled a bit. I whipped my head around when I heard Jon-Jon's voice at the barn door.


	5. Chapter 5

"You throwin' stuff at me ya little punk? He said then he smiled. I ran up and hugged him tight.

"How'd ya know we were up here?" I already knew the answer.

"Will Foxx told me his brother Richie drove up here one day. He said he didn't know what for though. I had a feelin' it was because y'all came up here. There's been some talk. Y'all are in deep shit. I tried to talk some friends of ol' Lukey's to at least take _you_ off their hit list," he glanced over at Tony, "but they're set in their ways."

"So how long ya think we should be up here?" Tony asked.

"I told Richie that I'd pick you guys up Friday and face Luke. Don't worry 'bout it, Tony, we got ya back."

"Yea, thanks for not like killing me."

"Yea, your lucky Maverick's in this or we wouldn't be helping ya right now."

"I know."

Friday morning rolled around like nothing. I was fine, un-phased by the fact that Luke could kill me. I know he wouldn't, not Luke. Tony doesn't know, but Luke has been my 'secret friend' for a while. We just became friends when I ran out on Gunnar for screaming at me a couple years ago. I bumped into him and thought I was dead meat. But he made me stop cryin', I was thankful for him.

Tony was a different story, we became really close and the only nerves I had were for him. I hoped that Luke would spare him. I actually never thought that we would become best friends, me and Tony, but we did. I tried to calm him down while he was pacing back and forth, nearly in tears.

"We gotta kill 'im, Mav. That's the only way. We gotta. No! Wait, we should run away," he grabbed me by the collar of my brown jacket, "let's go before Jon gets here. We can go and never get caught, start fresh!"

I slapped him hard across the face and yelled, "we can't always go running when something goes wrong. Jon-Jon taught me that you need to get tough and wise up and you'll never get hurt. Well, running away isn't a tough and wise move. They'll find us and kill us eventually for runnin' scared. God damnit, Tony, man up!"

"Okay, okay," he shook his head and rubbed his cheek where I slapped him. It was bright red.

"Sorry 'bout that, had to get some sense in ya some how." I said laughing. I got Tony laughing, too. Before we knew it we were in Jon-Jon's car.

"We're meeting the preps, no offense Tony, in the park. It's gonna go down like this. A rumble. We win, they don't kill nobody, they win…well, that won't happen. You two are staying back in the alley with Ace, don't go out into the fight or they will shoot, trust me."

We got to the park and I hugged Jon goodbye. I didn't mean it exactly as a goodbye hug, but Jon did. He was scared for me, he didn't want us to lose. We watched as the brawl went on. Then out of no where, I heard the familiar sound of a switchblade being pulled and everyone in the rumble gathered in a circle. It was Jon-Jon with a blade around Luke's neck.

I heard him, it was hard, but I heard him, "Now nobody move or he gets it!"

Then, it happened so fast, a gun was loaded from the preps side. Tony ran out screaming 'No!' as a gun was pointed at Jon-Jon. Ace held me back as I tried to go out there too. I began to cry when I heard two gun shots. Two things ran through my head, Jon-Jon's dead, Tony's dead.

I looked up at the scene, I was crying. Jon-Jon's body was laying on the ground, and so was Tony's body. The preps gunned it outta there on their Mustangs. I ran out to Tony's body because it was closest. He was dead for sure. A bullet to chest. I bawled when I realized that Jon-Jon wasn't dead. He was laying there in pain. An ambulance came and they scooped him up. A week later he was still in the hospital, but those preps were in jail for a very long time.

I got home after school exactly one week from the whole incident. I wasn't talking to anybody, though some people tried to. I just kept my mouth shut because I knew if I talked about it I would cry. Greasers don't cry. I sat my bag down on the chair in the kitchen. Ace was eating ice cream in our living room. Mick was there too, he was crying. When Ace saw me he grabbed my hand and rushed me out to his car.

"C'mon, we have to get to the hospital." He wouldn't tell me anymore.

He pulled me into Jon-Jon's room. Jon was coughing and crying and didn't look too good. He nodded his head at me to tell me to come over. I began to bawl as I heard his breathing get slower and slower as I knelt down by him.

"Kid, I don't know if I'll make it. I want you to know that you were always the toughest little shit I know. Always stay strong, always stay smart, always stay aware and don't pull stupid stunts like I do. Don't drink and beat up your best friends, don't kill people, don't steal, don't do anything wrong. Don't be like me."

"I will, I will be like you I don't care what you tell me! You're my hero, Jon. Don't forget it. You…ugh. Jon-Jon…I…I…love you. Man, don't die, please. Please Jon-Jon."

Just then the nurse came in and pulled me away, "I'm very sorry, but visiting hours are over."

Ace grabbed me up off the floor and helped me out of the hospital. He took me home. I lay on my bed crying, I didn't want Jon-Jon to die, he couldn't. Not now. I needed him to teach me how to be the toughest greaser alive. How to be wise so no one would mess with me.

The next days were killing me, I couldn't go to the hospital because Gunnar thought it wouldn't help my mental stability or something like that. Gunnar was smarter than me, he knew all these big terms. Three days from visiting the hospital I was sitting in my living room with Ace and his cousin, Two-Bit Mathews. You could tell they were related because they didn't stop cracking jokes. Too bad I wasn't in the laughing mood, I was waiting to hear from Gunnar on how Jon-Jon was doing. That's when he came through the door, I stood up abruptly.

"He's not dead. He just got released when I got up there. He…yea." Gunnar said.

"Well, take me to him, c'mon. I gotta see 'im!"

"No, Mavie, I think he needs some time to uh…relax."

I sighed, "alright then. Fine."

Late at night, around 10 o'clock, I was out in the living room with Two-bit eating chocolate cake. He was already working on his fourth piece. He was telling me stories about his friend. Dallas was his name I think. It really reminded me of Jon-Jon. I suddenly got nervous, what if Jon-Jon deliberately gets himself killed like that Dally guy.

"Hey, um, Two-bit. Do ya think I could go for a walk for a while. I'll be right back."

"Uh. Sure go 'head."

I headed out in the direction of Jon-Jon's house. I saw a figure coming out of his house. It looked like him so I called out his name and he turned.

"Mavie, who told you I was leavin' ?" he said.

"What? You're leaving? Where ya goin'?"

"Oh, so you haven't heard. I'm leaving for someplace, I'm not sure where exactly. I wanna get outta here, too many bad memories. I kinda want to start fresh. Maybe not be such the bad guy anymore," he shrugged and put his head down, "I don't know. Just promise me you'll remember something. Something is happening to someone somewhere. It's not just you, there's always someone who's got it worse. When you think you got it bad, don't worry, you'll pull through."

I stood there frozen in the moment. Nothing I could ever say would begin to tell how I felt. So all I did was cry, and cry some more. I ran out down the street and threw my arms around Jon-Jon. I was crying and I could tell Jon-Jon was too because I felt it. It started pouring down raining.

I stood away from Jon-Jon. My eyes were stinging, partly from the rain, mostly from tears, "you comin' back one of these days?"

Jon-Jon shrugged and wiped his face with his jacket sleeve, "maybe. Probably just to see you and nobody else."

I nodded my head, "yea, well I oughta let you get your way."

Jon-Jon turned and walked away. I stood staring. He was still crying, I could vaguely hear him.

I walked slowly home. When I got in, my brother attacked me, "good gosh, Mav. Where ya been?" asked Jaggar.

"Jon-Jon's leaving, ain't comin' back anytime soon," they all looked at me with sad faces, "you knew didn't you?"

Everyone in the room, Ace, Two-bit, and my brothers, all nodded their head.

"I cant believe you guys I coulda had more time with him! He was my best friend!"

"Hey!" Ace said, "What about me?"

I just looked at him and continued my speech, "he was my hero and I had, what, less then ten minutes with a guy I might never see again!?" I stormed off. I sat in the alley way in the soaking rain. Jon-Jon's words rang through my head, _something's happening to someone somewhere. It's not just you…_

I got back up and pushed myself through the days. I got over not seeing Jon-Jon. As a matter of fact I didn't want to see him because it just woulda been harder for me to get over him again. My problems were easy controlled with just a simple motto that now was the line I live by, "Something's happening to someone somewhere." Remember it, it might give you some comfort you need to get through a rough problem.


End file.
